ABS gives the all-clear for KNCC’s 40,000 cbm LCO2 carrier

Knutsen NYK Carbon Carriers (KNCC), an arm of Japan’s shipping major Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and Norway’s vessel operator Knutsen Group, has been given the thumbs up from classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for its 40,000 cbm liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO2) carrier design.

As disclosed, KNCC clinched the approval in principle (AiP) from ABS for the LCO2 carrier’s design on June 4 at a maritime event held in Oslo.

The approved concept, hailed as the first in the industry, utilizes LCO2-EP cargo tank technology engineered by KNCC, designed to transport liquefied carbon dioxide in a stable state —i.e., at near-ambient temperatures and under elevated pressure — using a modular approach.

This approach allows for less cooling and potentially larger carriers for transport, officials from ABS have highlighted.

Speaking on the development, Patrick Ryan, ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, further shared that carbon capture and storage (CCS) were “essential pillars of the carbon value chain” that bolster the maritime industry’s efforts to slash emissions. The key to moving this trajectory even further, he said, was to insist on collaboration.

To remind, KNCC revealed that its LCO2-EP technology was ready to hit the market back in November 2023. The solution was trialed at the test-rig facility through the CLIMIT Program, a Norway-based funding organization that supports the development and demonstration of carbon capture and storage technologies.

In December last year, NYK and KNCC joined forces with Japan’s Nihon Shipyard, a joint venture between shipbuilding players Japan Marine United Corporation (JMU) and Imabari Shipbuilding, to conduct a joint constructability study for a 40,000 cbm terminal-to-terminal LCO2 vessel.

As disclosed at the time, the joint study would see NYK craft an overall policy and evaluate constructability and appropriateness, while KNCC was to provide technical and regulatory expertise. Nihon Shipyard was tasked with studying the building process of the LCO2-EP unit from a yard’s perspective.

That same year, KNCC had also partnered up with China’s state-owned COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry to assess market readiness for a ship of this type.

At the end of March 2025, the company clinched a green light from the Japanese classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (otherwise known as ClassNK) for both the LCO2 carrier’s concept and for the design of a floating liquefied storage unit (FLSU), which invovles liquefying and temporarily storing CO2 that has been collected and transported as gas in an onshore facility, thus readying it for further transport by the vessel.